When Trump was elected in 2016, Jewel and I attended the Women’s March in DC. Along with a couple hundred thousand others, we crammed into a Metro car from our Pentagon parking space, and quickly realized this thing was huge. There was barely room to breathe with the car filled elbow-to-elbow. People started sharing where they were from, and we were shocked. About a dozen states were named, and we thought we were cool coming from Manassas!

The outpouring of frustration and anger at the misogyny and grotesque approach from the newly elected administration was visceral. People were pissed, and it wasn’t just women. So many signs, Changs, and speakers that really made us realize it was not one simple thing, but a huge variety.

In 2024, we were heartbroken yet again when almost half the voters selected the corrupt orange baboon. Some of the same sadness of having criminals running the country came back right away. More anger grew as this new administration took off all the norms and borderline ethics to become full-on racism and hatred run amok. You could smell the influence of the most awful people and Trump himself. They slashed entire government departments, firing of employees in areas of concern like veterans, health services, education, and every science organization. They abducted people and, without any due process of law, flew them to a maximum security hellhole in El Salvador with zero chance of getting a hearing. They fired good people and canceled valuable efforts like research on every major disease and epidemic response.

In 2024, Jewel was first, going to a Veteran’s march. Then we both went to a Tesla Takedown protest, then an anti-administration protest in Manassas called “Hands Off”. This was initially regarding social security, medicare, and medicaid. But signs from the 1500 people there that day ranged across a couple dozen issues, from Gaza to Ukraine to everything that these evil humans have undertaken. Nationally, an estimated 3 million (see references on Wikipedia) came out to make their complaints with this administration known. They weren’t just in blue areas, either. Tons of people came out in red states and red towns.